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Friday, November 23, 2012

Hello, friends. I know. It's been awhile. Several weeks, actually. I am back. I've decided to continue to be a blogger. But I haven't been in touch. Life has encroached on my free time...dealing with a lot of knee pain, doctor's appointments, working two jobs, reconstructing the house after the hurricane took my bedroom away from me. It's been a long month, for sure!

But today, something happened that made my perspective shift a bit and I made the time to come tell you about it. Because I hope that it's going to do the same for you...give you some pause, cause you to reassess your situation, and then change your outlook.

While taking my son to his job this morning, we decided to go to our favorite fast food restaurant...Chick-Fil-A to get some breakfast before his shift. We waited in the drive thru lane, made our order, got our total, and then came to the window. When we got there, it took a few minutes for the friendly staffer to take our payment because she was pressing a lot of buttons on the register. Finally, she smiled at us and explained that the man who was two cars ahead of us paid extra for the cars behind him. The woman in the car in front of me got her entire meal free! We ended up getting about half of our meal free! I was stunned...and immediately humbled. What a wonderful blessing on a busy, busy shopping day for a random stranger to help others - to spend his money on others instead of himself. Wow!

After sharing our meal together, Kev and I had a few minutes before his shift began, and I needed a new pair of shoes, so we decided to brave the mall on Black Friday and see what sales we could find. I was so pleasantly surprised at the kindness of the shoppers and the store staff on such a hectic day. And the shoes I found...wow! I have horribly bad knees, as you know, and need really comfortable and supportive shoes to make walking even POSSIBLE, much less comfortable. I found a shoe at Nike called Lunar Allways TR that feels like it was custom made for my foot! It's wonderful! The regular price was marked as $79.99, but were marked on sale for $54.99, which was a good enough sale in my mind. But at the register, they rung up at $42.00. Happy Black Friday sale day! Door busters at Nike got an additional 30% off this morning! Double WOW!!

So after shopping, Kevin went to go do his shift and I headed home, happy. It was then I realized something that I think I've lost sight of for the past month or so.

I am blessed. Truly, truly blessed.

You see, for the past month, I've just been muddling through life. Dealing with things as they come up, trying hard to be happy. Too hard, really. It's been such an EFFORT to try to remain positive with the physical pain I've been dealing with. Add on top of that the housing situation because of the flooding from the hurricane, my ridiculous work schedule, and parenting stresses, and you can imagine that smiling has been a little forced lately.

But it shouldn't be. Ever. I am RIDICULOUSLY blessed!! And that has NOTHING to do with the things going my way today. It also has nothing to do with things NOT going my way during the past stressful month.

God has not forgotten me. He showed me that today, reminded me that I am still held in the palm of His hand, still the apple of His eye, still placed in life exactly where He wants and needs me to be right now - painful knees and all! I just have to choose to see it that way.

And it's time to do what He made me to do...be a source of positivity and light for this world. That's who I am at my core, and it's time to be that woman again. No, it won't make my knees hurt less (although these lovely new shoes may help with that!). No, it won't make my house get repaired more quickly. No, it won't put a lot of extra income in my budget this month to give the kind of gifts I'd like to give this Christmas. But it WILL be fulfilling the purpose of my life. It's time to pay the kindness I've been shown forward. It's time to bless others as I have been blessed. I just had to remember how truly blessed I am!

So, my challenge to myself in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas is to practice an act of kindness for someone every day. And I'm going to challenge you to do the same. Remember how incredibly blessed you are. Focus on what you have, not what you don't, and from your physical, emotional, and financial wealth of resources...bless others.

Are you up for it, friends? Make this holiday season the best one you've had in a long time...use it to bless others!